CHAPTER XXVIII
PAGES FROM THE PAST
Before the solicitor and his companions could seat themselves at thetable whereat the former's preliminary explanation had been made, Mr.Wraythwaite got up and motioned Avice to follow his example.
"Carfax," he said, "there's no need for me to listen to all that you'vegot to tell Mr. Brereton--I know it already. And I don't think it willparticularly interest Miss Harborough at the moment--she'll hear plentyabout it later on. She and I will leave you--make your explanations andyour arrangements, and we'll join you later on."
He led the way to the door, beckoning Avice to accompany him. But Avicepaused and turned to Brereton.
"You feel sure that it is all right now about my father?" she said. "Youfeel certain? If you do----"
"Yes--absolutely," answered Brereton, who knew what her question meant."And--we will let him know."
"He knows!" exclaimed Carfax. "That is, he knows that Mr. Wraythwaiteis here, and that everything's all right. Run away, my dear young lady,and be quite happy--Mr. Wraythwaite will tell you everything you want toknow. And now, my dear sir," he continued, as he shut the door onWraythwaite and Avice and bustled back to the table, "there are thingsthat you want to know, and that you are going to know--from me and fromthese two gentlemen. Mr. Stobb--Mr. Leykin. Both ex-Scotland Yard men,and now in business for themselves as private inquiry agents. Smartfellows--though I say it to their faces."
"I gather from that that you have been doing some private inquiry work,then?" said Brereton. "In connexion with what, now?"
"Let us proceed in order," answered Carfax, taking a seat at the head ofthe table and putting his fingers together in a judicial attitude. "Iwill open the case. When Wraythwaite--a fine fellow, who, betweenourselves, is going to do great things for Harborough and hisdaughter--when Wraythwaite, I say, heard of what had happened down here,he was naturally much upset. His first instinct was to rush toHighmarket at once and tell everything. However, instead of doing that,he very wisely came to me. Having heard all that he had to tell, Iadvised him, as it was absolutely certain that no harm could come toHarborough in the end, to let matters rest for the time being, until wehad put the finishing touches to his own affair. He, however, insistedon sending you that money--which was done: nothing else would satisfyhim. But now arose a deeply interesting phase of the wholeaffair--which has been up to now kept secret between Wraythwaite,myself, and Messrs. Stobb and Leykin there. To it I now invite yourattention."
Mr. Carfax here pulled out a memorandum book from his pocket, and havingfitted on his spectacles glanced at a page or two within it.
"Now," he presently continued, "Wraythwaite being naturallydeeply interested in the Kitely case, he procured the localnewspapers--Norcaster and Highmarket papers, you know--so that he couldread all about it. There was in those papers a full report of the firstproceedings before the magistrates, and Wraythwaite was much struck byyour examination of the woman Miss Pett. In fact, he was so much struckby your questions and her replies that he brought the papers to me, andwe read them together. And, although we knew well enough that we shouldeventually have no difficulty whatever in proving an _alibi_ inHarborough's behalf, we decided that in his interest we would make a fewguarded but strict inquiries into Miss Pett's antecedents."
Brereton started. Miss Pett! Ah!--he had had ideas respecting Miss Pettat the beginning of things, but other matters had cropped up, andaffairs had moved and developed so rapidly that he had almost forgottenher.
"That makes you think," continued Carfax, with a smile. "Just so!--andwhat took place at that magistrates' sitting made Wraythwaite and myselfthink. And, as I say, we employed Stobb and Leykin, men of greatexperience, to--just find out a little about Miss Pett. Of course, MissPett herself had given us something to go on. She had told you someparticulars of her career. She had been housekeeper to a Major Stilman,at Kandahar Cottage, Woking. She had occupied posts at two Londonhotels. So--Stobb went to Woking, and Leykin devoted himself to theLondon part of the business.
"And I think, Stobb," concluded the solicitor, turning to one of theinquiry agents, "I think you'd better tell Mr. Brereton what you foundout at Woking, and then Leykin can tell us what he brought to lightelsewhere."
Stobb, a big, cheery-faced man, who looked like a highly respectablepublican, turned to Brereton with a smile.
"It was a very easy job, sir," he said. "I found out all about the ladyand her connexion with Woking in a very few hours. There are plenty offolk at Woking who remember Miss Pett--she gave you the mere facts ofher residence there correctly enough. But--naturally--she didn't tellyou more than the mere facts, the surface, as it were. Now, I got ateverything. Miss Pett was housekeeper at Woking to a Major Stilman, aretired officer of an infantry regiment. All the time she was withhim--some considerable period--he was more or less of an invalid, and hewas well known to suffer terribly from some form of neuralgia. He gotdrugs to alleviate the pain of that neuralgia from every chemist in theplace, one time or another. And one day, Major Stilman was found dead inbed, with some of these drugs by his bedside. Of course an inquest washeld, and, equally of course, the evidence of doctors and chemistsbeing what it was, a verdict of death from misadventure--overdose of thestuff, you know--was returned. Against Miss Pett there appears to havebeen no suspicion in Woking at that time--and for the matter of that,"concluded Mr. Stobb drily, "I don't know that there is now."
"You have some yourself?" suggested Brereton.
"I went into things further," answered Mr. Stobb, with the ghost of awink. "I found out how things were left--by Stilman. Stilman had nothingbut his pension, and a capital sum of about two thousand pounds. He leftthat two thousand, and the furniture of his house, to Miss Pett. Thewill had been executed about a twelvemonth before Stilman died. It wasproved as quickly as could be after his death, and of course Miss Pettgot her legacy. She sold the furniture--and left the neighbourhood."
"What is your theory?" asked Brereton.
Mr. Stobb nodded across the table at Carfax.
"Not my business to say what my theories are, Mr. Brereton," heanswered. "All I had to do was to find out facts, and report them to Mr.Carfax and Mr. Wraythwaite."
"All the same," said Brereton quietly, "you think it quite possible thatMiss Pett, knowing that Stilman took these strong doses, and having apecuniary motive, gave him a still stronger one? Come, now!"
Stobb smiled, rubbed his chin and looked at Carfax. And Carfax pointedto Stobb's partner, a very quiet, observant man who had listened with asly expression on his face.
"Your turn, Leykin," he said. "Tell the result of your inquiries."
Leykin was one of those men who possess soft voices and slow speech.Invited to play his part, he looked at Brereton as if he were halfapologizing for anything he had to say.
"Well," he said, "of course, sir, what Miss Pett told you about herposts at two London hotels was quite right. She had been storekeeper atone, and linen-keeper at another--before she went to Major Stilman.There was nothing against her at either of those places. But of course Iwanted to know more about her than that. Now she said in answer to youthat before she went to the first of those hotels she had lived at homewith her father, a Sussex farmer. So she had--but it was a long timebefore. She had spent ten years in India between leaving home and goingto the Royal Belvedere. She went out to India as a nurse in an officer'sfamily. And while she was in India she was charged with strangling afellow-servant--a Eurasian girl who had excited her jealousy."
Brereton started again at that, and he turned a sharp glance on Carfax,who nodded emphatically and signed to Leykin to proceed.
"I have the report of that affair in my pocket," continued Leykin, moresoftly and slowly than ever. "It's worth reading, Mr. Brereton, andperhaps you'll amuse yourself with it sometime. But I can give you thegist of it in a few words. Pett was evidently in love with her master'sorderly. He wasn't in love with her. She became madly jealous of thisEurasian girl, who was under-nurse. The Eurasia
n girl was found near thehouse one night with a cord tightly twisted round her neck--dead, ofcourse. There were no other signs of violence, but some gold ornamentswhich the girl wore had disappeared. Pett was tried--and she wasdischarged, for she set up an _alibi_--of a sort that wouldn't havesatisfied me," remarked Leykin in an aside. "But there was a queer bitof evidence given which you may think of use now. One of the witnessessaid that Pett had been much interested in reading some book about themethods of the Thugs, and had talked in the servants' quarters of howthey strangled their victims with shawls of the finest silk. Now thisEurasian girl had been strangled with a silk handkerchief--and if thathandkerchief could only have been traced to Pett, she'd have been foundguilty. But, as I said, she was found not guilty--and she left her placeat once and evidently returned to England. That's all, sir."
"Stobb has a matter that might be mentioned," said Carfax, glancing atthe other inquiry agent.
"Well, it's not much, Mr. Brereton," said Stobb. "It's merely that we'veascertained that Kitely had left all he had to this woman, and that----"
"I know that," interrupted Brereton. "She made no concealment of it. Or,rather, her nephew, acting for her, didn't."
"Just so," remarked Stobb drily. "But did you know that the nephew hadalready proved the will, and sold the property? No?--well, he has! Notmuch time lost, you see, after the old man's death, sir. In fact, it'sbeen done about as quickly as it well could be done. And of course MissPett will have received her legacy--which means that by this time she'llhave got all that Kitely had to leave."
Brereton turned to the solicitor, who, during the recital of facts bythe two inquiry agents, had maintained his judicial attitude, as if hewere on the bench and listening to the opening statements of counsel.
"Are you suggesting, all of you that you think Miss Pett murderedKitely?" he asked. "I should like a direct answer to that question."
"My dear sir!" exclaimed Carfax. "What does it look like? You've heardthe woman's record! The probability is that she did murder thatEurasian, girl--that she took advantage of Stilman's use of drugs tofinish him off. She certainly benefited by Stilman's death--and she'swithout doubt benefited by Kitely's. I repeat--what does it look like?"
"What do you propose to do?" asked Brereton.
The inquiry agents glanced at each other and then at Carfax. And Carfaxslowly took off his spectacles with a flourish, and looked more judicialthan ever as he answered the young barrister's question.
"I will tell you what I propose to do," he replied. "I propose to takethese two men over to Highmarket this evening and to let them tell theHighmarket police all they have just told you!"